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This will show you how to turn Airplane mode on or off to enable or disable all wireless radio devices (ex: Wi-Fi, mobile broadband, Bluetooth) at once in your Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows 8.1, or Windows RT 8.1 PC or device.

You will only have the Airplane mode feature available on a mobile Windows 8 device (ex: laptop, tablet, mobile phone, etc...) that has a wireless network connection (ex: Wi-Fi, mobile broadband, Bluetooth).

Note

Even if your PC has a hardware switch for airplane mode, it's recommended to use one of the following options below instead. Some hardware switches might turn off your wireless connection in a way that allows certain apps to turn the connection back on without telling you.

When airplane mode is turned on, you'll see an airplane icon in the taskbar notification area of your desktop.

After you tap or click the toggle to turn Airplane mode on or off, it can take your PC a few seconds to turn each wireless device on or off. If you toggle Airplane mode on and off too quickly, or if you turn on Airplane mode and then put your PC to sleep before your PC can turn your wireless devices on or off, your wireless device settings might get out of sync with the Airplane mode setting.

Warning

If you use an app that can turn on wireless devices while Airplane mode is on, your wireless devices could be turned on without you being notified.

OPTION ONE

To Turn "Airplane Mode" On or Off from Taskbar

1. Go to your Desktop.NOTE:You could do this by pressing the Windows + D keys.

2. Click/tap on the Network icon in the taskbar system icons area at the far right. (see screenshot below)

3. At the top of the Charms bar under Airplane mode, move the sliders right or left to turn it on or off. (see screenshot below)

4. When finished, you could press the Windows key to return to the Start screen if you like.

OPTION TWO

To Turn "Airplane Mode" On or Off from Charms Bar

1. Open the Charms bar, click on the Settings charm, and click/tap on your wireless network icon. (see screenshot below)NOTE:You could also press the Windows + I keys to directly open the Settings charm.

2. At the top of the Charms bar under Airplane mode, move the slider right or left to turn it on or off. (see screenshot below)

3. When finished, you could press the Windows key to return to the Start screen if you like.

OPTION THREE

To Turn "Airplane Mode" On or Off from Control Panel

1. Open the Control Panel (category view), click on the Network and Sharing Center link, and click on the Connect to a network link. (see screenshot below)

2. At the top of the Charms bar under Airplane mode, move the slider right or left to turn it on or off. (see screenshot below)

3. When finished, you could close the Control Panel and press the Windows key to return to the Start screen if you like.

OPTION FOUR

To Turn "Airplane Mode" On or Off from PC Settings

1. Open PC Settings, and do step 2 or 3 below for what Windows 8 you have.

2. In Windows 8 and Windows RT, click/tap on Wireless on the left side, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below step 4)

3. In Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1, click/tap on Network on the left side. (see screenshot below)

A) Click/tap on Airplane mode on the left side of Network, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)

4. In the right pane under Airplane mode, move the slider right or left to turn it on or off. (see screenshot below)NOTE: If you like, you could turn on or off individual Wireless devices here instead of all of them with Airplane mode.

I have never heard of this so-called "Airplane mode" ever before. I installed the latest beta Ubuntu on one of my machines today and saw the setting for it. And now this tutorial about it from you. I think it was meant to be that I learned about this in the last 24 hours. haha

Great job with all the tutorials. My compliments are always honest and not for any other reason - I think they're amongst the best on the net. The screenshots really help a lot with understanding.

Yeah, Airplane mode is a new feature in Windows 8 that was usually only a feature included with mobile smartphones, tablets, etc... It makes sense though since Windows 8 will be used on more mobile devices than previous Windows.

"Wireless devices" would allow you to turn off individual wireless devices, say only your Wi-Fi on or off like in my screenshot in the tutorial.

Airplane mode would turn off all radio signals, say Wi-Fi, mobile broadband (ex: 3G, 4G, 4G LTE, etc...), bluetooth, etc.. at once instead of having to doing so one by one if you have more than one wireless device installed. Yep, it was called "Airplane mode", since you usually have to turn off all wireless devices before take off in an airplane. It just stuck I guess. I guess, you could also use it in restricted court room situations, and you have to turn off all wireless devices in some areas of a hospital.

Hello Brink. First of all thank you for all your guides, tips and tricks. They are amazing. Windows 8 is one little mess and spreading your knowledge helps making it less annoying.

Now to my question. Do you have any ideas how to set the default option for the airplane mode? It seems that the airplane mode is always off when you start your machine and I would like it to be on when I start mine.

I guess it could be done through some registry entries but I don't know where to search for one. Maybe it could also be done through the Group Policy editor but Windows 8 Core doesn't offer that option and implementing it from the Pro version doesn't seem to work.

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